From Convicted Murderer to Podcast Host and Beyond
(‘Auto-Motive,’ Forensic Files)
The last post discussed the investigation into Michele Harris’s murder and the successful case built against wealthy husband Calvin “Cal” Harris, who had long been suspected of making her vanish on September 11, 2001.
The body of Michele Harris, a mother of four small children, was missing when Forensic Files produced “Auto-Motive” in 2011. And as of this writing, it still is.
But what about Cal?
Well, he won’t be disappearing anytime soon. As I suspected, the car-dealership tycoon from upstate New York bankrolled enough legal help to get him out of prison after serving only a small part of his sentence. For this week, I looked into Cal’s journey to freedom, whether his children believe in his innocence, and what he’s up to today.
Following is a timeline of his history from 2007 t0 2025, but first a quick recap of the evidence against him when the homicide happened:
Although it took six years to get Cal in front of a jury — the authorities originally wanted to wait until they had a body — investigators had a strong case against him early on. He had quickly disposed of possessions that a living woman would need (her car and her clothing, in this case), always a bad sign. Cal, 39, and Michele, 35, were fighting over $5 million amid their upcoming divorce. Michele’s friends told police that Cal had threatened to kill her, police found her blood splatter in several areas of the Tioga County house the couple shared, and someone had tried to clean it up.
Cal’s in-laws, the Taylor family, said that Cal began avoiding eye contact with them once Michele went missing.
2007 Trial #1
In June 20o7, prosecutors finally kicked off a trial—and won. Cal would later say that when he heard the guilty verdict, he felt as though he were going to throw up. But Cal wouldn’t go to prison yet. The following August, before a judge had a chance to sentence Cal, local farmer Kevin Tubbs suddenly remembered that, while he was hauling hay around the time Michele went missing in 2001, he saw her arguing with an unidentified man. Kevin’s mother, Gloria Tubbs, said she witnessed it too.
Cal’s lawyers pushed the theory that one of Michele’s new acquaintances from her “year of living dangerously” (she had been waiting tables at a rowdy restaurant to earn money for a new life with a young boyfriend) could have committed the murder. His defense team would eventually say that, based on the description from Tubbs, the killer might be a Texan named Stacey Stewart.
2009 Trial #2
Free on $500,000 bail, Cal got a new trial in 2009. The prosecution contended that Kevin Tubbs came forward and testified because he was looking for reward money or attention. (It’s not clear whether Gloria Tubbs took the stand.)
Tioga County District Attorney Gerald Keene also pointed out that Cal owned an all-terrain vehicle and had a great deal of time to hide Michele’s body between the evening of September 11, 2001, and the morning after, when her empty car turned up in the driveway.
Cal lost again.
After the verdict, Michele’s family cried and hugged Keene. When interviewed by the Press and Sun-Bulletin, one juror explained that he found it odd that Kevin Tubbs went to Cal’s defense lawyers with his revelation rather than to the Owego police chief, who was a personal friend. The juror also said that he believed Michele was an excellent mother who would never have willingly left her children.
The judge gave Cal 25 years to life. He was sent to Auburn Correctional Facility. His aunt Mary and her husband, John Perticone, took custody of Cal’s children.
2015 Trial #3
Cal’s lawyers persuaded the courts that a judicial procedural mistake from a previous proceeding warranted a third trial, in 2015. It ended with a hung jury and mistrial, necessitating yet another court date.
2016 Trial #4, ‘Courting’ a Partner
For his fourth go-round, Cal chose a nonjury trial. State Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott found him innocent in 2016. Cal was a free man.
All in all, he had spent only three years in prison.
There must have been a part of Cal Harris that enjoyed litigation, however. Instead of basking in his liberty, he embarked on a lawsuit against his business partner.
Cal and Joseph Reagan had a deal whereby Cal would get 75 percent of the auto business in the case of an acquittal in the original trial. If he lost, Reagan would, over 20 years, buy Cal’s 55 percent interest in the car business and some real estate for $3.6 million. Reagan began paying $15,000 a month, intended for a trust for Cal’s children. (Cal failed to place at least one of the payments in the trust.)
Cal’s side argued that his 2016 acquittal should nullify the terms of the sale to Reagan.
A panel of four judges voted unanimously against Cal in November 2023.
Circa 2022 Podcast Launch
Meanwhile, Cal had started a podcast, “Reign of Injustice,” to advocate for his innocence and describe his life in the 15 years between his wife’s disappearance in 2001 and his final exit from prison in 2016. He said that because of the near-daily news coverage of his case, emotions among the locals were running high and that he felt as though he were surrounded by villagers with pitchforks and torches.
Cal also recalled the weekly one-hour prison visits from his children, who never believed that their father took their mother’s life. “Seeing the pain and sadness of their faces was excruciating,” Cal said. “I had to stay strong when they were here and then I’d go to my cell and cry for hours.”
He opined that prosecutor Gerald Keene and investigator Sue Melvey were so determined to find him guilty that they altered photo evidence and used the doctored pictures during the trial. He also said that he had once fired Melvey’s father from one of his dealerships because he was a bad guy who made false claims to customers.
Furthermore, Cal said that, when his kids were in school, a cop would go there and do things to embarrass them.
2024 Back to Court Voluntarily, Again
As of fall 2024, Cal was in the news as he got a court date for a malicious prosecution lawsuit he filed years earlier. He contended that lawyers for the county groomed witnesses to lie. Government attorney Peter DeWind said Tioga County would “aggressively defend itself.” It’s not clear who won or whether the action is continuing.
2025 Enticement Offered
In Cal’s latest engagement with the news media, he offered $100,000 for help finding Michele Harris’s killer. He set up a website and phone line for tips. At the press conference on May 22, 2025, Cal’s lawyer Aida Leisenring described the Harris family’s heartache. “Every Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Days, and birthdays, they are reminded about the empty seat at the table.” All four of the children believe someone other than their father murdered their mother.
And despite being nearly orphaned at times, each child has turned into a responsible adult. Leisenring noted that Taylor Harris graduated from Cornell University and is getting married. Jenna, 27, “who is the spitting image of her mother,” would soon be a mother herself. Another daughter works in public relations.
Cal took the microphone for part of the conference and said it was hard to see the cruel things that people said about him on social media and know that his children could see it too.
At the event, it was acknowledged that Michele was probably deceased because, otherwise, she would have found a way to return to her kids.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — R.R.
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube. Read the previous blog post about Cal and Michele Harris.
